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16.58 Oh, it's all getting very exciting down among the dead men in the Prem. West Brom's win over Wigan puts them level with drop zone rivals Boro and Newcastle on 31 points. Hull are still just three points clear of the bottom three - but will swap places with Newcastle if the Toon beat Boro on Monday night.

16.49 Pompey's John Utaka shows how not to take a penalty - managing to put the ball high and wide of the target.

16.35 GOAL!!! West Brom 3 Wigan 1. The Baggies are making a desperate surge for the lifeboats. Marc-Antoine Fortune bags his second of the game.

16.33 GOAL!!! Hull 0 Stoke 2. Phil Brown's orange complexion is turning puce with rage as the Tigers go 2-0 down. Stoke had only won once away from home this term but Liam Lawrence's 30-yarder should secure a second three-pointer on the road.

16.21 GOAL!!! West Brom 2 Wigan 1. Have the Baggies got half a chance of survival? Chris Brunt's penalty is saved but he smashes home the rebound.

16.20 GOAL!!! Fulham 3 Villa 1. Diomansy Kamara had no League goals this term at the start of the second half...now he has got two.

15.18 GOAL!!! West Brom 1 Wigan 1. Bottom of the table Baggies get the kind of luck that only afflicts relegated teams. Baggies keeper Dean Kiely has Hugo Rodallega's free-kick covered but the ball hits Chris Brunt and deflects into the opposite corner of Kiely's goal.

15.16 GOAL!!! Fulham 1 Villa 1. Ashley Young steals in to level from six yards for Villa.

15.08 GOAL!!! West Brom 1 Wigan 0. Marc-Antoine Fortune keeps the Baggies' survival hopes alive with a tap-in at the back post.

14.41 Millwall finally win a play-off game - at the ninth attempt - beating Leeds 1-0 at The Den. Round two at Elland Road on Thursday.

14.35 Rangers' 1-0 win over Celtic sees the blue half of Glasgow take over at the top of the SPL, two points clear of the Bhoys.

14.31 Goodison fans are robbed of the chance of seeing a hat-trick of hair disasters. The mad barnets of Marouane Fellaini and Jo will be on parade against Spurs - but home fans were hoping for a glimpse of the lush locks of Tottenham defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto. They will have to make do with the short back and sides of Alan Hutton instead.

14.28 West Brom defender Paul Robinson is out with an ankle problem and James Morrison (heel) also fails to make it for the game against Wigan. Defeat for the Baggies, plus a point for Hull against Stoke, will send them boinging back down.

14.25 Central defender Chris Samba again starts up front for Blackburn - something you would more associate with a League Two club than a money-laden Prem outfit. Peter Crouch will plough a lone furrow up front for Pompey.

14.22 Stoke striker James Beattie has passed a fitness test on his thigh injury and lines up at Hull. Liam Lawrence is also over a hip problem. Hull's home record of three wins, five draws and nine defeats is the worst in the English leagues.

14.19 Sunderland have failed to score in their last five away games - and, bizarrely, start at Bolton with top striker Djibril Cisse on the bench. Bolton stick with Johan Elmander, despite the fact he has not netted in the Prem for over 1,100 minutes.

14.18 Neil Harris sends the The Den potty as he fires Milwall ahead against Leeds.

14.14 John Carew keeps his place in the Villa line-up at Fulham - Emile Heskey warms the bench. The Cottagers - a staggering 20 points better off than this time last season - are without Andy Johnson.

13.33 No goals at The Den and - perhaps more surprisingly - all 22 players are still on the pitch as the half-time whistle blows.

13.23 1-0 Rangers at half-time up in Glasgow.

13.08 Rangers take the lead against Celtic at Ibrox through Steven Davis.

12.57 Two games underway already and the temperature at both is hotter than Santa in a sauna. Up in Glasgow it's Rangers v Celtic (surprisingly, one or other of them will win the title) while sarf of the river we've got Millwall v Leeds in the League One play-off.

12.07 Good afternoon boys and girls...and the big question today is: Was the Spaniard who bought the winning £110million Euromillions ticket last night a Mr P Guardiola of Barcelona?

Good luck to him if it was. Because Pep and his pups gave us the biggest belly laugh of the season with their late heroics at Chelsea on Wednesday. It was more outrageous than an MP's expense claim.

Less glamourous matters than Champions League semi-finals await this afternoon - but the jackpot on offer for the survivors of the Premier League relegation dogfight won't be too far short of a Euromillions payout.

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The six clubs immediately above the bottom three are playing each other. Bottom side West Brom could finally take the long drop. And fellow bottom three dwellers Boro and Newcastle - who are both on 31 points and play each other on Monday - could find themselves virtually down too if results go against them.

The key game is 17-placed Hull at home to Stoke. Phil Brown's orange tan has faded as quickly as his over-promoted team. And the Tigers, sixth at Christmas, are now most people's tips to make a swift return to the Championship.

But, and it's a but the size of a house with a giraffe perched on top of it, a win today at home to Tony Pulis' Stoke would put Brown's bombers six points clear of Boro and Toon with only three games to go for the north-east pair.

Stoke are already eight points clear of the drop zone on 39, and know just one more would make them safer than an MP's index-linked pension.

Sunderland, four points clear of their north-east brethren, are desperate for something at Bolton to ease their plight. The Black Cats were absolutely bobbins as they lost at home to Everton last week - and have already been tonked 4-1 by the Totters this term.

The other clash of the drop zone worriers sees Blackburn at home to Portsmouth. A win for either side just about clinches the right to get stuffed by the Big Four's reserves next term...and a point apiece would go a long way to securing Prem status, too.

The fat lady is clearing her throat to signal the demise of bottom dwellers West Brom. They face Wigan at home today knowing defeat, plus a point for Hull, will see them making a swift return to the Championship.

Away from the drop zone, FA Cup finalists Everton will be looking for a fairly gentle run-out against Spurs at Goodison. Fulham face Aston Villa at Craven Cottage with boss Roy Hodgson making a bid for Manager of the Season.

The badger-haired chief has already done well enough on the pitch but his roasting of pundit Jamie Redknapp yesterday was a sight to behold.

Redknapp had belittled ref Tom Ovrebo for his handling of the Chelsea-Barca game, saying he was out of his depth because he was from Norway and calling for officials from Spain and Italy to handle the big games.

Hodgson replied: 'Are we going to say "you're from Spain, you might be OK but the rest of you can go f*** yourselves because you don't count?" It's nonsense'.